What the fuck did I say, damnit?
So I turned pro, I guess in '08
I was coming out to New York a lot, so I was 23, 24
I wanted to move here
I was kind of burnt out
What am I going to do after skateboarding?
I don't have any backup plan
I just wasn't inspired and I was really burnt out
That's when I was starting to get into other things
I was at a sleepover at a friend's
and I hadn't seen a skateboard video yet and they put in "Welcome to Hell"
which was a Toy Machine video
and I remember my two favorite parts were Donny Barley's
and the fall section at the end
I remember that just being-- like sticking out so much
"Photosynthesis" came out
and that was Anthony Van Engelen, Jason Dill, Josh Kalis
Anthony's part I liked because my dad would play Iggy Pop
and he skated to "Search and Destroy"
It just had an up-beat tempo to it
But later on, I liked Jason Dill's part a lot more
and that was way more artsy and had super A and it was dramatic
As a young skater I was influenced by Andrew Reynolds
Jim Greco and Erik Ellington
because they were wearing 501s and they were listening to the Ramones
and they were wild and it was just really exciting
That was my 'Guns and Roses', as I put it
We'll grab this
I met a friend named Andy Brown
and he introduced me to disco and house music and all that stuff
Oh fuck
I don't know how loud you need it to be
I liked that style of music, but I didn't know anything about it
I didn't have any friends that knew about it so I couldn't
and I was kind of, you know, perceived as gay
or it was just lame to like that style of music in skate culture
So I never really explored it
Then I came to New York City and learning about Salsoul
and learning about Larry Levan and Arthur Russell, David Mancuso
Just learning about all these different DJs
and the style of music they introduced
I think it started from listening to Daft Punk and Moby
and taking steps back and learning the history of it
There's this place called The Garage
It was a gay club
The music that came with it
and the mystique of this place that's not around anymore
I just got into the whole culture of everything of that time
and I really really liked it
Yeah, I mean it's just like, it's intense definitely
But, you know, the clothes they wore were really cool
There's a Salsoul shirt in here that's amazing
It says 'dance your ass off'
But that style, like tucked-in shirts, fitted stuff
I don't know, it was just really interesting
Then when I was reading it, I was just really sad, you know?
Just all these friends passing away
That shirt
I mean, I guess you could look at that and people are gonna be like, "Woah!"
I think I was always, in the back of my head
always into fashion, maybe, or the idea
But I didn't know anything about it
Maybe by coming out to New York
I worked for
I was a runner at one point
for this magazine called "American Magazine"
If you guys know-- Do you remember that magazine at all?
There's a sweater in here I want to make, this sweater
It's like a knit, it might be an old Kenzo
Bianca Chandon started from when I quit Girl
there were all these other interests I had with Paradise Garage
and all the music I was listening to and all the photos and the fashion
I wanted to project them out, make this experimental company
People are like, "oh that's so cool, you're trying to be edgy"
I'm like, "I'm not trying to be edgy
I'm into this"
I like this.
You know the sad thing?
I've never been to Fire Island